


You're Gonna Be Fine, You Know?

by randomramblesff



Series: You're Gonna Be Fine, You Know? [1]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: A Load of Angst, Episode: s06e13 Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television, F/M, Missing Scene, because obviously these goobers need more OF THAT, finale fic, jxaappreciationweek2016, season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 07:19:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8480629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomramblesff/pseuds/randomramblesff
Summary: The finale, from Jeff and Annie's point of views.(1 chapter from #jxaappreciationweek2016)





	1. Annie

**Author's Note:**

> These chapters were based off a #jxaappreciationweek2016 prompt; a missing or end tag fic - set during the finale of Season 6.

**Annie**

When the Dean calls out and the door of the bar swings close, she takes a breath and scans everyone’s faces. Britta’s already looking towards her, Abed’s flicking between the door and Jeff’s empty seat, and Chang is eyeing up whatever was left over in Jeff’s glass.

“Does he usually do this? Just get up and leave? Where do you think he’s gone? Home?”

She watches Frankie as she asks a fairly simple question to which everyone mumbles a response to except from her. Annie’s eyes drift from each chair to Jeff’s and when Frankie says the word ‘home’, she instantly believes she knows where he’s headed.

He wouldn’t be stood outside the bar, because it would be too easy for anyone to come out and find him, and everyone would then be questioning what went on when he eventually gets dragged back in; and he wouldn’t have driven home because even if he has been drinking noticeably more in recent times, he’s never been ignorant of the risks and has always called for a cab when he thinks he’s pushing the limit, so she thinks about the once place which is half way in-between.

Somewhere where he’s easy to find, yet might not be the first place just _anyone_ would look; somewhere where he can lock himself away but still be able to hear a knock at the door, and somewhere where he can be totally himself and let his guard down, because it’s almost impossible to put your guards up after walking out and acting fairly frantic when big news hits.

_Home._

She stands and shifts out from the table, catching Abed’s eye before speaking up, her phone in hand.

“I’m going back on campus. I’ll text you when I’m there. Just don’t…” She isn’t sure what to say but she sees Britta roll her eyes and the Dean hold a hand to his chest, so she’s pretty sure they all know what she’s trying to say.

It takes her about eight minutes to pull up into the Greendale parking lot. Jeff usually parks inside, but she expects he wouldn’t have gone to that much effort just for tonight, and her predictions are proven correct when she squints in the darkness and see’s the faint glow of his car’s security light where it’s parked under a tree.

It feels like the end of their first year all over again. Walking back _home_ after saying she’s leaving, only to end up alone with Jeff. There are no nerves within her that would make her spiral in a spurt of confidence to lean up and kiss him tonight though, because she’s only there to make sure he’s okay – something she’s missed doing in an attempt to keep her distance. But now, after glancing across the table when Abed was talking about TV and comfort, she almost feels like she’s been given one last opportunity to try.

When she clicks her heels up the steps of the library, she notices there aren’t any of the main lights on, but there’s a recognisable shadow in the light of the study room, so she sighs with relief that it hadn’t all been a waste of time. She pulls out her phone and texts Frankie to tell them she’s arrived and Jeff’s here, and that maybe they should wait before heading over because she isn’t quite sure how this going to play out.

Her hands clasp on the handle of the main entrance and she pulls slightly, trying to be as quiet as possible because she can’t quite work out what he’s doing just yet. It won’t open though, which shows just how well she knows Jeff’s ideas of escape, so she slips her hand into one of her blazer pockets and fiddles around until she finds the spare key that she’s been keeping hold of. She twists it into the slot and slowly peels back the door – and there he is.

His shoulders are drooping and he’s facing the other way, and the reality finally hits her that he actually genuinely _needs_ someone. She can’t tell where he’s looking or what expression is on his face, or what kind of thoughts are going around in his mind and it stings to think that a few years ago she would have known it all. But things change; decisions are made and people still stand tall throughout it.

Her fingers slip and the door slams shut, the blinds clattering behind her.

_He turns._


	2. Jeff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New additional chapter from Jeff's point of view.

**Jeff**

He’s looking over at her when something snaps. It’s an outer body decision to stand up and walk away, but it doesn’t matter because the part of his brain that is working can feel his emotions working on overdrive; he can feel tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He doesn’t run or make the fastest get away possible because his legs feel like jelly, almost as if he’s stepped off one of those roundabout rides they used to have in play parks when he was a kid. He can hear the muffled calls of everyone as he pushes through the bar door, but that’s all they are; muffled voices that aren’t quite strong enough to persuade him to come back.

He blinks hard because he still won’t let himself cry. He tells himself he won’t. He tells himself that there’s no need. The cool air of the evening gives him some sort of clarity as he passes by a few smokers standing around, so he’s able to get to grips on which direction he parked his car. He shoves his hand into one of his jean pockets to pull out his car keys, randomly clicking the unlock button because his brain is too fogged up to be bothered to point it in the right direction.

Within a few moments, he’s buckled up and backing out of the dusty parking lot at the back of The Vatican. It finally hits him when he indicates left that he hasn’t given any thought to where he’s going. The past two minutes have been full of instinctive decisions, so it’s not a surprise that he instinctively turns towards everything he knows.

He could go back to his apartment and lock himself away but that’s a longer drive than he’s prepared for, especially since he’s a little buzzed and not just due to the shock that is Abed and Annie leaving. He carries on driving, though, passing the front of the bar. For a second he wishes that they were standing on the outside to watch him go. He’d put his foot down and he’d drive without ever turning back. He’d leave because now he knows there wouldn’t be a whole lot left to return to.

And that’s when he tells himself that he can; he can cry, and he will because he’s alone in his car and it’s too dark for anyone to look in and see the tears now staining his cheeks. The overwhelming sensation of failure makes him feel pathetic, but it drowns out everything else he’s feeling; whatever everything else is. His hands are clasping around the steering wheel so much so that his nails are digging into his palms as they curl around and connect with each other. When he realises he’s shivering and letting out shaky breaths, he bites down on his bottom lip and curses at himself.

When he rolls the car to a stop for a traffic light, he closes his eyes momentarily, but it’s worse than keeping them open because he suddenly has a vision of the beaming smile Annie had been wearing when she’d returned from her interview. When he drives through the green light, he keeps going straight on until there’s a turning for the campus because he needs to stop sooner or later. He also realises he needs to sort himself out because if he was the man he wanted to be, he’d still be in that bar, giving her some sort of congratulatory speech and would be cheering her on because he’s proud.

But he’s not the man he wants to be, and he sure as heck isn’t the man he wants to be for her, so he does what current Jeff does. He wipes his hands down his face and he takes one deep breath before undoing his safety belt so he can climb out of the car and–.

He realises he hasn’t thought much further than that.

He starts out towards the quad but his now, less dizzying steps end up taking him towards the library. He doesn’t know whether it’s the idea of the study room, or the scotch in his desk drawer down the hallway that have him unlocking the blocked door, but he opens it with no care for how loud he’s being, before locking it back up behind him. He might be six foot four and a huge piece of muscle, but he knows he is in no fit shape to fight off any intruders whilst he deals with what most would probably define as a breakdown. Plus, the idea of being completely alone and locked up in a space he knows from baseboard to internal vent, seems like the best option.

Maybe he does need someone to find him, and perhaps subconsciously he’s left himself all too out in the open, but right now he can’t think of anyone who could fix him.

He lets out a saddened laugh as he walks towards the study room, or the committee room, or whatever place you want to call his second home. He doesn’t know what to think because there’s not much more to realise or mull over. All his fears about the people he cares for the most leaving him are coming to a head. It’s like everything has just suddenly come to a road block, but he was travelling at an almighty speed and he couldn’t see it coming so the impact is almost too much to take.

He looks at the chair that used to be Shirley’s and wonders if she already knew. Nobody had seemed that surprised by either Abed or Annie’s news, so there’s something telling him that it had all been kept quiet to avoid any of this happening. Then there’s Troy’s old chair, and Pierce’s old chair and all of these chairs which he wishes didn’t mean so much more than just pieces of fabric covered foam and curved metal.

And then he looks over at _hers_ and it hits him how he’d always been one chair over. There’d always been a distance between them but now it’s going to be a distance of over a thousand miles and a distance that separates her dreams from being achieved, and just being dreams that never end up getting realised.

And it’s all his fault, and it hurts. It hurts. So, he thinks about the family they could have or could _have had,_ and he thinks about all her belongings that never found their way into his apartment, and thinks about how he never got to say ‘I love you’ and he thinks about how he might never have the chance to name his son Sebastian because he honestly doesn’t think there will ever be anyone else he wants to do it all with. And he thinks about how he could have a dog right now if he wanted to have a dog because that’s one thing you don’t _need_ someone else for, but he knows he wouldn’t want to bring it home without her.

But it hurts, even more, when he thinks about how he never even found out if _she_ wants to do it all with him, and it stings, but he _knows_ it’s all his fault. She would have moved over from that chair years ago and he _knows_ it. He knows he can’t stop her starting the next part of her life, but worst of all, he knows he wouldn’t want to. She would have let someone else sit in that chair next to him if it made him happy, and it stings once more to know that he’d do the same for her, he just never got the chance to tell her that.

There’s no point crying again or trying to work out a way to go back in time because he knows it now. He knew it.

He drops his head and listens to cars outside, feeling smaller than he has in years, because love is something bigger than him that he’s always tried to avoid, but now it’s there, and it’s part of him; but she’s _not._

Then he hears the door and he’s so spaced out that he barely has a chance to be surprised.

_He should have known._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you'd like a one shot sequel of after the study room scene!


End file.
